Ash did not tell the truth: Bhandarkar

Director Madhur Bhandarkar who shelved Heroine after he came to know about Aishwarya Rai's pregnancy has opened up about the whole episode leading to the death of his dream project.

The director claims his lead heroine decided to keep him in dark even after the project was announced at Cannes.

"The film was announced in Cannes on May 13 while we commenced shooting on June 7. There was a gap of 24 days, if we had known the truth things could have been reworked," the director tells Mid-Day.

Madhur BhandarkarThe filmmaker says that he came to know about the news like the rest of the world - from television.

"The entire event would not have taken place if at the beginning the actress had informed of an impending maternity. The truth was hidden from us. We learnt about it from news channels like the rest of the world. Filmmaking functions on faith and trust."

It was a tough decision for Bhandarkar to shelve the project. "It was a collective decision of the producers to pull off the plug. It takes a heart of steel to take such a hard decision."

Bhandarkar insists there was no way Ash could have gone ahead with the project. He told the tabloid, "The lead actress was required to smoke on screen, but even if she chose not; there are other actors smoking in the same frame entailing to passive smoking, which would prove detrimental to a pregnant woman's health."

The Chandni Bar director who re-worked on Heroine's script for Aishwarya is disappointed right now. He says, "Today I am sitting alone in my office after the plugs being pulled off. No which way would I have trampled my dream project on which I have given my sweat and blood for almost one and a half years. This was going to be my most ambitious project."